Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) reveals the most peaceful countries in the world. Despite living in the most peaceful century in human history, the world has become less peaceful over the last decade.

Advertisement

Cover Story

Cover Story
As economic growth languishes and worries about the specter of deflation mount, much-needed infrastructure development and new sources of project financing could provide a panacea to global growth.

Frontier Markets Report | Costa Rica
Costa Rica has a long history of actively and successfully seeking outside investment. However, the country is dealing with high unemployment and an uncertain fiscal outlook, given that the government plans to ramp up spending on social programs, which could raise the debt level.

Market Analysis | Trade Finance
The outlook for trade finance in North America appears modestly positive. “Growth will be more in line with global GDP,” says Chris Lewis, executive vice president and group head, international trade services, Wells Fargo.

Market Analysis | Supply Chain Finance
Trade agreements, falling commodity prices, economic growth and Basel III are among the issues that are top of mind for many experts in banking and trade finance in Asia.

Q&A | Supply Chain Finance
Nadya Talhouni, senior vice president and head of trade finance and cash management at Arab Bank, says MENA banks are well placed to handle business needs previously covered by European banks.

The 2015 World’s Best Global Insurers were selected on the basis of responses from more than 1,500 readers of Global Finance from around the world, as well as the expertise of the magazine’s editors and reporters.

Global Salon

Global Finance sat down with Arvind Rajan, International Chief Investment Officer at Prudential Fixed Income, to discuss the impact of low oil prices on the ability of emerging markets to service their debt.

Country Report | Mozambique
Mozambique is the current star in Africa’s rising inward-investment constellation. For much of the last quarter of the 20th century, Mozambique was a war zone. Today the only war on its horizon is a bidder’s war, as investors salivate over the opportunities this Southern African country offers.

Milestones | United States & Cuba
After 54 years of economic and diplomatic isolation, relations between Cuba and the United States appeared to thaw in mid-January, when the U.S. implemented a host of regulatory changes to its sanctions regime against the Communist country.

Milestones | European Union
Regulators had Web giants like Google and Apple in their sites when they framed a new value-added tax (VAT) regulation for businesses selling digital products into the European Union

Newsmakers | United States
Weiss is widely regarded as capable, and is a liberal himself. But he came under fire because of his affiliation with Wall Street, as many in the American left have been calling for an end to the “revolving door,”

Newsmakers | Croatia
Despite the ceremonial nature of the Croatian presidency, Grabar-Kitaroviċ has denounced the government for “cold-hearted” economic policies and says Croatia’s economy is a national disgrace.

Capital Markets | Pharmaceuticals M&A
Walgreen CEO Greg Wasson grabbed a tiger by the tail with his plan for the biggest US drugstore chain to acquire Alliance Boots, a European multinational drug dispensary.

Trends | Foreign Exchange
Foreign exchange traders complained that lack of volatility in the market last year was drying up their business. These same traders are now feeling whiplash from the Swiss National Bank’s surprise move on January 15 to de-peg the “Swissie” from the euro.

Trends | Bank Capitalization
As Spaniards returned from the Los Reyes Magos (Epiphany) holiday, Spain’s Santander, Europe’s biggest bank, sold the equivalent of nearly 10% of its capital in one day, raising €7.5 billion ($8.7 billion) in cash and bringing required ratios in line with those of the banking industry.